1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of entertainment systems and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for editing a video recording with audio selections.
2. Background Information
Numerous advances have been made in recent years in the field of consumer electronics in general, and entertainment systems in particular. Indeed, many households within the United States now have a television and a video recorder/playback device, e.g., a video cassette recorder, digital versatile disk (a.k.a digital video disk, or DVD), laser disk players, and the like. In addition, more and more households now have video camera's, also commonly referred to as a "cam-corder", with which to make their own movies, documenting in audio and video, a child's birthday, soccer games, vacations and the like. Similarly, although not entirely replacing "still" pictures, many weddings are now captured on video tape as well as in a photo album.
More advanced models of these prior art video camera's have features, which allow a user to edit and manipulate the recording. For example, some video camera's allow a user to manipulate the recording to add a title, or credits, at the beginning of the recording. Some video camera's permit a user to "fade in/fade out", e.g., slowly focus from a "fuzzy" picture to a clear picture, or from total blackness to a clear picture, and vice versa. Similarly, some of the more advanced video recorder/playback devices include features which allow a user to edit a recording to add a title or credits to a video recording.
None of the foregoing A/V devices, however, allow a user to edit a video recording to add audio content, e.g., a music soundtrack, a poem, sonnet or other enhancing audio without replacing the original audio content of the video recording. For example, if someone wanted to add background music to their video recording of the ocean, using home A/V equipment typical of the prior art, they would have to re-record the audio track of the video recording, thereby replacing the sound of the ocean with the "background" music, which becomes the primary audio content of the video recording. Those skilled in the art will recognize that an audio "mixer", e.g., a device which receives two signals and combines them into a composite signal, common of professional editing equipment may well solve this dilemma, allowing an editor to augment the video recording with audio. However, audio mixers typical of professional editing systems are expensive, difficult to install and use. That is, audio mixers typical of the prior art require that the user select audio content with which to augment the video recording, the user is required to synchronize the audio selection with the primary audio content, and to set the various levels (e.g., volume) of the audio.
Thus, even if the cost of such a professional mixer were not prohibitively expensive, a typical home entertainment system user would nonetheless find it exceedingly difficult to use a professional audio mixer to edit their home movies. Consequently, although it would be desirable to be able to add background music or other audio effects to home movies, the consumer electronics industry has heretofore failed to satisfy this need.
Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus for editing a video recording with audio selections that is unencumbered with the foregoing deficiencies and limitations associated with the prior art.